🎧 Audio Link coming soon...

Artwork Exhibited at Sweet Lorraine Gallery @ TI Art Studios, Brooklyn, NY, USA from October 17-31, 2026.

When we think of Icarus, we often associate him with hubris and point to his fate as to not try to stretch our boundaries. What if we look deeper at his story and consider whether it was his dream to touch the sun that was the issue or whether it was that he had not fully developed tools to fulfill his dream. Today, NASA is making Icarus’ dream a reality by touching the corona of the Sun with its Parker Solar Probe. This piece aims to tie the dreams of Icarus and our space program together as humanity continues to evolve.

In the painting Rethinking Icarus, a wing of Icarus shares the canvas with an arm of a space probe. The wing is constructed with feathers and underwire. The feathers have been singed and melted wax has been dripped on top of them. This not only symbolizes the fate of the wing, but also gives a slight smell of smokiness and coconut, two smells that many people subconsciously associate with the sun. Setting the canvas and feathers on fire is also a nod to Jimi Hendrix, who famously set his guitar on fire during a performance and inspired generations with his music.  

Opposite the wing, the arm of the space probe is constructed using mini solar panels.  This not only emulates actual space probes that collect and use solar power to lessen the need for fuel, but also portrays our ability to capture the Sun. One of the panels still has its wires attached to allow the painting to actually use solar power at a very low wattage.

The canvas and the sun are both treated with acrylic paint. The initial layer of jet black has been purposely spread on the canvas as if putting a ganache on a cake. The dripping along the sides of the canvas gives the impression of the canvas melting due to the heat of the sun. The use of deep metallic colors and a slightly burned canvas give the impression of corona around a vibrant sun. The Sun itself was painted with emphasis on a quick lift technique of the paint to give action to the Sun. The Sun is a volatile place where coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar flares are frequent. The Sun is portrayed as extra active as we are leaving the peak of the solar activity cycle which lasts for eleven years. Overmixing was also avoided to allow the brilliant colors of the Sun to come through separately.

Finally, QR codes were added to border panels of the canvas to link to a description of the painting as well as resources for the story of Icarus, NASA and space, and the Sun itself. These QR codes add to the multisensory experience that some of the elements mentioned above bring to the viewer. One QR Code was burned to add to the feeling of heat from the Sun.

Thank you as always for your support!

🎧 Multidimensional Space Artwork Discussion Audio File

Artwork Exhibited at Sweet Lorraine Gallery @ TI Art Studios, Brooklyn, NY, USA from October 1-31, 2025.

Multidimensional Space is a mixed media work using Acrylic paint as its base on a 12 x 12 canvas.

The thought about this piece stems from research that I have been doing on dimensionality in Computer and Data Science.  Most of us are familiar with a 2D and 3D dimensional world.  However, when we look at dimensions in different areas, we find that there can be more dimensions than just the ones that we have come to know.  Einstein theorized that “time” was a 4th dimension in our universe.  Maybe you have been to amusement parks or movies where they splash you during a scene or you smell bread when the oven on the screen opens and they advertise the event as 4D.  The point is that even though we are taught to think about 2D and 3D, we have expanded our understanding of dimensions.

You might be wondering why I chose to highlight skulls in this work. The theme of skulls was the theme of the show that I was invited to produce a work by Sweet Lorraine Gallery, Elizabeth Meggs, and Nicholas Cueva in Brooklyn, NY. A big thank you for this opportunity! I wanted to show just how versatile this dimensional conversation is in the computer and data world, the art world, and in the real world and the skulls were a great vehicle to connect them all.  

In this work, you will see the merging of Computer and Data Science flying in from the right. Rather than paint a standard skull like the one on the left of the painting, I created a skull by creating a pixel art image in a spreadsheet. The sheet is built by using 0s and 1s to represent binary code with 0 being “off, or unfilled” and 1 being “on, or filled”. Each cell then shaded based on the number entered using conditional formatting.

By doing this, the unfolding of dimensions begins.  Not only are items like number and shading dimensions to consider, but you will notice that the fonts of the numbers also vary.  Additionally, there are changes within the cells such as alignment, justification, font size, and style of the numbers in the cells.  Each one of these is considered to be a dimension that can provide data.  

Additionally, the skull itself is slightly raised from the canvas. Not enough to justify calling it traditional 3D, but also not calling it fully 2D either.  Leaning into this blurring of dimensions is  known as impasto in the art world. This gives the viewer the feeling of 3D on a 2D canvas while not being exactly either.  By using this technique and tying in aspects of the Gestalt Theory for seeing what we expect to see rather than what we are actually looking at, the minds of the viewers are more conditioned to think beyond standard dimensionality.

The skull on the left of the painting is more of a traditional skull that I painted freehand to show that I could do that in case there were those who felt there was not enough traditional painting in this work.  I wanted to make the skull friendly, like a jack o lantern, another nod to the time of year that the work was made public. The skull is smiling in approval of the merging of the data world and the art world and the concepts of left brain and right brain as it is joined by the pixel art data skull.  I also experimented with using a black sharpie marker in wet white acrylic paint to make the ghostly stare of the eyes.

Moving back to discussing non-traditional types of techniques and dimensions added to this work include a slightly raised surface with the moon at the bottom.  This is made from plumbing caulk as a nod to the non-traditional, every day items that can be used to express yourself in art. 

If you are looking at the work live, you might detect a slight scent from the painting. I infused the jet black acrylic paint with ground clove and cinnamon to highlight the autumnal release of this work and to provide another unexpected dimension of smell. This is reinforced by the addition of ground clove whole cinnamon sticks attached on the back of the canvas. 

Also on the back of the canvas, there is also a sticker of Leo, the main character from my children’s book “I’ll Visit Space From Here!”. Leo loves space and he and his mom don’t want him to travel in a rocket so he looks at all the ways to be part of the space program without leaving earth.  One was for him to paint the Milky Way so this is a nice tie in. 

You may have also noticed a space theme for this painting.  There are metallic colors in the sky on the right representing all of the stars and planets that you see from the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope.  On the left, you will see bright yellows, oranges, and greens to represent solar activity and give a point in space for the artwork to reside.

A nod to Bob Ross, who inspired me to believe that I could be part of the art world one day too when I was younger, is in the sky is that the stars are made by tapping paint with a 2 inch brush while the solar activity was made by criss cross strokes being careful to not cover all the dark backgrounds and shading.

There is also a secret message that is written on the canvas itself and covered by the work.  I wrote it before applying the first coat of paint should anyone ever decide to peel away the layers to see it.  Just belief in yourself and you won’t have to actually read it.

Even the QR Code and the audio version of this discussion was another dimension that I wanted to fold in for you.  It was a nice way to explain some of the thinking that went into the work and also let you experience another dimension of it, an auditory and technical one, that allowed you to be interactive. That is why I embedded it into the work.

Thank you again for your interest and support.  Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments. I hope you have enjoyed this. Have a great day!